ISL460U-CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
Chapter 5: Consumer Attitudes and Attitude Formation Process
Introduction
The concept of attitude, which is at the centre of social psychology theory is used in politics, health, marketing, education, and many more fields. An attitude is not a behaviour that can be seen directly, but a preparatory tendency for a specific behaviour. Therefore, the existence of an attitude is understood as a result of the observation of a behaviour. The purpose of studies on attitude is to predict and to explain behaviour of individuals. For marketers, it is a crucial issue to create a consumer attitude or to create an attitude in consumers or to change an existing attitude. However, attitude is a permanent concept and has a long-term tendency.
The Concept of Consumer Attitudes: Scope and Importance
It is known that people’s attitudes directly affect their purchase intentions. Purchasing intentions also affect reinforcement of attitudes or change of attitudes. Consumers adopt good or bad attitudes towards outlets, products, brands, individuals and opinions. If attitudes towards products and brands in different market segments can be determined, if the changes in attitudes can be measured, it will be possible for companies to develop and implement effective marketing strategies in line with this information.
Importance of Consumer Attitudes
Attitudes are complex, interrelated, consistent, learning- based, variable concepts that are necessarily felt towards an object, i.e. object of an attitude. In terms of consumer behaviour, an “object” can be a product, brand, service, price, package, advertisement, promotional material, retailer, store, a sales staff, among many aspects of consumption. Attitudes have a task that facilitates people’s social behaviour. Consumers who are likely to give similar responses to a certain event allow a certain general attitude to be formed. Therefore, for marketers, it is important to investigate the origins of attitudes and to understand why consumers display these attitudes. If marketers can analyse an attitude correctly, examine the market correctly, find the most effective methods that can maintain positive attitudes and change negative attitudes, their firms can gain great advantages over their competitors and have the opportunity to develop successful marketing strategies to a larger extent.
Attitudes have many features. Every attitude has a power. Strong attitudes are difficult to change compared to other adopted attitudes. Attitudes can have a complex structure depending on the complexity of its elements. One attitude can be related to the other attitudes a person has. Attitudes are learned and people do not have only one attitude, but a set of attitudes. Attitudes can change; however, it is very difficult to change them. Moreover, it is easier to reinforce positive attitudes than to change negative ones. More prominent, salient, active and positive attitudes have more effect on an individual’s behaviour.
To sum up, consumers’ attitudes to object of attitudes i.e. products, brands, stores, restaurants etc. can be complex. They vary:
• valence–whether the attitude is positive, negative or neutral; • extremity–the strength and the power of the attitude; • resistance–the degree to which the attitude can be changed by outside influences; • persistence–the degree to which the attitude erodes over time; and • confidence–the level at which the consumer believes the attitude is correct.
Scope and Elements of Consumer Attitudes
There are three elements of an attitude: cognitive, emotional and behavioural. The cognitive element refers to the knowledge and beliefs of the consumer about an object or event. The emotional element characterizes feelings about objects. The behavioural element represents goals and the desire to act towards the goal.
Cognitive element is a rational element consisting of knowledge, beliefs, perceptual responses, and ideas that individuals have towards any attitude object (a situation, an event or an object) and is associated with understanding, evaluation, planning, decision-making, and thinking.
Emotional element is related to the values of the individual, and are of a simpler nature than the cognitive factors. This dimension of attitudes consists of individual values. The cognitive element is an influential factor in the formation of the emotional element. An individual’s negative or positive feelings about the object of his attitude are related to his/her experiences. The emotional element is also related to the behavioural element. It is not possible to understand the emotional structure unless the behaviour occurs. Usually, the behavioural element occurs as a result of the emotional element. Emotional behaviour emerges as three forms of behaviour
1. approaching behaviour 2. opposing behaviour, and 3. avoiding behaviour.
These behaviours result from the negative or positive emotion that stems from the negative or positive perception of the object. There are rational, reasonable and logical evaluations about what the right behaviour is at the source of the normative behaviour. However, it is not possible to clearly distinguish between the normative and emotional dimensions of a behaviour.
Behavioural element expresses how a person will act toward sensory and behavioural elements. Since the behavioural element reflects a tendency to act in accordance with emotional and cognitive elements, it is action oriented. In other words, it expresses the possibility of an attitude transforming into a behaviour. There are two
types of behaviour related to the behavioural element, which are emotional behaviour and normative behaviour.
While all three components of an attitude are important, their relative importance varies depending on the motivation level of a consumer relative to the attitude object. Attitude researchers developed the concept of hierarchy of effects to explain this situation. Consumers approach a product purchase decision as a problem- solving process. In the first level of hierarchy, the consumer forms his beliefs about a product or a brand by accumulating knowledge (beliefs) regarding relevant attributes of the product/brand. Later, the consumer evaluates his beliefs and forms a feeling about the product (affect). In the second level of hierarchy, the first step also starts with beliefs. This is a behavioural learning situation. Behaviour is carried out based on beliefs formed by knowledge, emotions occur just after the behaviour. In the third level of hierarchy, affect comes first, then the behaviour, and then beliefs. At the affect level of hierarchy, we can notice that hedonic consumption and beliefs are formed after a behaviour based on emotions is realized.
Functions of Consumer Attitudes
Different people can develop the same attitude towards the same people, events, objects or phenomena for completely different reasons. Attitudes have different functions. These functions are considered as utilitarian, value-expressive, ego defensive, and knowledge functions.
Utilitarian function is related to the basic principles of reward or punishment. Value-expressive function explains consumers’ core values. This function is present in attitudes about one’s own central values and self- perception. Ego-defensive function emerges in the attitude of consumers to protect themselves from external threats or internal emotions. According to knowledge function, some attitudes are formed as the result of a need for order, structure or meaning. These needs arise when a consumer encounters a new product or service or an uncertain situation. The attitude that an individual develops is not only formed as a result of personal experiences. The information about the object is also determinative at this point.
Attitude Formation Process and Importance
Therefore, the attitude formation process is very important. Marketers who play important roles in the attitude-building process, may use either cognitive, or emotional or behavioural attitude elements. When the emotional element is used, marketers benefit from Classical Learning Theory. Music, pictures and images that are found to be liked by the target audience are used. Operant conditioning theory is utilized in changing the behavioural element. Behaviour does not occur automatically (reflexively) in operant conditioning. Consumers learn the consequences of their behaviour and deliberately shape their behaviour to obtain a reward or
avoid punishment. The change of the cognitive element is done by imposing new beliefs on the consumer, trying to change existing beliefs or reducing the importance of existing belief.
Forming Consumer Attitudes
Attitudes have a central and permanent role in predicting and explaining human behaviour. According to the studies on attitude formation, factors such as genetic factors, physiological conditions (maturation, perception, learning ability), direct experience with attitude subject, personality, socialization process (adaptation to society), group membership, and social class affect the formation of attitude. Marketers need to develop strategies to change attitude or create attitude. At this point, it is very important to create a positive attitude and make a negative attitude positive. The basic strategies used in forming or changing attitudes are as follows;
• Changing beliefs • Changing evaluations • Adding a new belief • Encouraging attitude formation based on imagined experience • Targeting normative and accepted beliefs
Various marketing communication methods are used to create an attitude or to change an existing attitude. Persuasion is one of the main goals of marketing. The realization of the persuasion process depends on fulfilling some of the following psychological principles:
Reciprocity: It refers to what people get in return for forming a positive attitude towards an event or object. Therefore, when forming an attitude, the benefit to be obtained by the consumer should be emphasized very well or it would be useful to give some encouraging awards.
Scarcity: The more difficult it is to obtain a product or brand, the more attractive it becomes as its quantity decreases. Therefore, it can be very useful to emphasize scarcity in messages to create an attitude. In particular, the use of restriction in campaigns can be given as an example.
Authority: The person who gives the message to the consumer to form an attitude is also of great importance. This person’s competence, relevance and credibility are significant, i.e. recommendation of a health product by a doctor.
Consistency: When consumers create an attitude towards any product or service, they may carefully act in a way that does not contradict themselves. Therefore, it would be beneficial to be careful not to contradict the individual and social values of the consumers in the messages aimed at forming an attitude.
Liking: It is very important that the people who give the message to create any attitude are liked by the consumers in the target audience.
Consensus: People look up those around them to inform their decisions when they are uncertain with respect to a certain course of action to take. Therefore, a consensus creates a direction that is approved by society a consumer lives in.
Levels of Commitment to Attitudes
Consumers differ in their commitment to an attitude. The degree of commitment is related to the levels of involvement in the attitude object as follows:
Compliance: At the lowest level of involvement, compliance, an attitude is formed because it helps in gaining rewards or avoiding punishments from others. This attitude is very superficial: it is likely to change when the person’s behaviour is no longer monitored by others or when another option becomes available. A person’s attitude may be superficial: it is likely to change when the person’s behaviour is no longer monitored by others or when another option becomes available.
Identification: A process of identification occurs when attitudes are formed in order for the consumer to be similar to another person or group. Advertising that depicts the social consequences of choosing some products over others is relying on the tendency of consumers to imitate the behaviour of desirable models.
Internalization: At a high level of involvement, deep- seated attitudes are internalized and become part of the person’s value system. These attitudes are very difficult to change because they are so important to the individual.
The Relationship between Attitude and Behaviour
Attitudes are one of the important forces that affect the direction of behaviour. Forming a consumer attitude is a complex process involving different components of human behaviour that begins before a purchase and continues during and after the purchase. Studies on attitude have mostly tried to prove the relationship between attitude and behaviour as a consistent relationship. Attitudes cannot be observed directly. Therefore, understanding attitudes can only be possible by determining behaviours. Although attitude has a direct effect on behaviour, it is quite difficult to determine the reasons for the relationship between attitude and behaviour. The reason for this is the effect of individual values, individual norms, individual habits, personality traits, individual learning processes, and environmental factors in the formation of behaviours.
Attitude Theories and Models
There are various attitude theories based on the inconsistencies among the components of attitudes and the ability of components to affect each other. It is highly difficult for companies to explain and evaluate an attitude formed by many factors to create and implement appropriate marketing strategies. Therefore, some attitude models have been developed to determine attitudes,
including factors that affect people’s assessment of the attitude object.
Attitude Theories
Attitude theories can be handled under three main headings: Cognitive-Consistency Theories, Functional Theories, and Social Judgment Theories.
Cognitive Consistency Theories:
Cognitive consistency theories offer four distinct theories: balance theory, congruity theory, affective-cognitive consistency theory, and cognitive dissonance theory.
According to the “Balance Theory”, individuals form a system which they call “triad” and they determine their attitude according to the relationship among triads. Each triad includes 1. a person and his/her perceptions, 2. an attitude object, and 3. “the other” (a person or an object). People can shape their attitudes clearly if the triad is in harmony, and they feel tension if there is a discrepancy between these three things. This theory assumes that balanced states are stable while imbalanced states are unstable. When an unstable situation arises, the psychological tension encourages a person to restore balance cognitively by changing the relationships. Therefore, a person’s attitude towards an object depends on his attitude towards a source that is linked to the object.
Osgood and Tannenbaum (1955) proposed congruity theory known as the “truth theory”, which is similar to balance theory. Congruity theory specifies that when an individual source of opinion praises or disparages some object, a receiver’s attitude toward that object changes depending in part on how well the receiver regards the particular source. Congruity is a stable state, and in- congruity is an unstable state.
Rosenberg’s (1960) “affective cognitive consistency theory” is concerned with the consistency between a person’s general attitude towards an object and his beliefs that he has, and his values that he holds. This theory is mainly concerned with what happens in the individual when an attitude change. It is assumed that the relationship between the emotional and cognitive components of the attitude change when the attitude changes. According to the theory, the impact or evaluation of a person’s attitude object tends to be consistent with this cognitive structural component. When there is a discrepancy beyond a certain tolerance level, the individual is motivated to change one or two components to reduce the inconsistency and thus make them more consistent. The theory, therefore, suggests that changes in the emotional component produce changes in the cognitive component to maintain consistency between the two. The theory also suggests that persuasive communication can be used to change attitudes by reassessing goals.
Leon Festinger (1957) developed the “cognitive dissonance theory”. Dissonance means inconsistency. Cognitive dissonance refers to any discrepancy that an
individual may perceive between two or more of his attitudes or between his attitudes and behaviour. Festinger argued that any form of dissonance is disturbing, and individuals will try to reduce inconsistency and discomfort. Individual’s desire to reduce dissonance is determined by three factors; 1. the importance of factors causing dissonance; 2. the degree of influence an individual believes to have on the elements and 3. the rewards that may be involved in dissonance. If dissonance felt is relatively insignificant, the pressure to correct the imbalance will be low. However, if it is important, a person needs to correct the imbalance. He can 1. change his behaviour, or 2. change his dissonance or 3. change his attitude. The degree of influence that individuals believe will have an effect on how they react to dissonance. If they perceive the dissonance as an uncontrollable outcome. They are less likely to be more open to attitude change.
Functional Theory
The functional theory evaluates how attitudes and efforts are related to the motivational structure of the individual. According to this theory, attitudes exist because they serve a function for the person (please refer to subtitle Functions of Consumer Attitudes). Consumers who expect that they will need to deal with similar information at a future time will be more likely to start forming attitudes in anticipation of this event. Two people can each have the same attitude towards an object for very different reasons. As a result, it can be helpful for a marketer to know why an attitude is held before attempting to change it.
Social Judgment Theory
Social judgment theory was developed by Sheriff and Hoveland (1961). This theory attempts to explain how current attitudes produce distortions of attitude-related objects and how these decisions mediate attitude change. Thus, a person’s initial attitude towards a subject serves as an anchor for judging stimuli related to an attitude. The person’s initial attitude on an issue provides a point of reference from which to evaluate other views.
Measurement of Consumer Attitude
Measurements on attitudes are divided into three categories. The first category includes methods that allow individuals to make inferences based on their reactions to a set of sentences or adjectives. The methods in this category are defined as “scaling techniques” and include tools named as “scales”. The second category includes methods that allow inferences from the (explicit) behaviours demonstrated by individuals. These methods largely require the collection of data based on observation and a strong attitude-behaviour relationship. The third category includes qualitative methods, such as face-to-face interviews, focus group interviews, and in-depth interviews, that allow inferences based on individuals’ physiological responses. In this method, inferences can be
made through various physiological measurements using neuron measurement tools.
Attitude Scales
The most used method in attitude measurement is attitude scales. In this method, questionnaires consisting of questions are prepared according to the attitude scales determined and consumers are expected to answer the questions. Numerical results are attributed to the answers of the consumers according to the attitude scale, and various analyses are made on the results to predict consumer attitudes. What is generally understood from measuring attitudes is that it allows individuals to respond to sequential sentences or adjective sentences in the direction of their own feelings. These lists of adjectives and sentences are called “scale”. The most popular scales are Bogardus Scales, Thurstone Scales, Likert Scales, Semantic Scales, Guttman Scales and Osgood scales. There are two types of attitude scales: single and multiple scales. Single scales consist of only one single item. With the use of a single expression, the general feeling of the consumer about a store/product/brand is learned. In single item scales, likert scales are generally used to measure attitudes.
Inferences from Behaviour
It is suggested that inferences about attitudes should be made based on the behaviour of individuals. This view is defended by justifying the weakness of the validity of attitude scales. It is suggested that the behaviour should be observed in its natural environment in order to increase the validity of inferences made from behaviours. There are three basic principles of measurements that Sechrest defined. The first is that it does not require cooperation with a subject; the second is that the subject is unaware of any procedure or measurement, and the third is that the measured phenomenon does not change. However, it is known that the relationships established between the behaviours observed with this method and the attitudes deduced are weak. In this method, it is possible to increase the reliability, increase the number of observations, and describe the behaviours in a wider way.
Inferences from Physiological Responses
Many concerns about reliability and validity could be alleviated if an appropriate physiological measure of attitude can be found. Inferences from physiological responses can be made using qualitative methods such as face-to-face interview, in-depth interview, and focus group interview. In recent years, with the development of technology, the use of neuro measurement tools in marketing research has become widespread. With many measurement tools such as eye tracking and EEG, it is possible to determine emotions with indicators such as eye and pupil movements, heart rate, and respiration. Thus, it can be clarified to determine the effect of attitudes on the formation of behaviours.